Baristas have it kind of easy when it comes to peer-to-peer knowledge sharing: Most folks can get to a local TNT or barista jam by hopping on a subway car or putting their bike pedals to the metal. But what about coffee producers? What kind of opportunities exist for farm owners and crop managers to gather in a room and share ideas, ask each other questions, and maybe even commiserate a little?

Hopefully, that sort of thing just got at little easier – at least for a select group of producers in Central America.

Last week, our Sustainability & Producer Relations Manager, Kim Elena Bullock, traveled to Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras, to host the first-ever "Origin Pro Series," which she describes as a kind of "grower's summit on soil fertility and quality experiments."

Kim Elena said the idea sprung from a kind of intellectual match-making that she and Tim Hill, our Coffee Buyer & Quality Manager, had long been trying to arrange between two of their most experimental and quality-obsessed producing partners: Aida Batlle of Finca Mauritania in El Salvador, and Roberto Salazar of the Honduran farm Finca Pashapa.

"Aida wanted to learn about Roberto's organic composting success, and Roberto expressed interest in Aida's quality systems," Kim Elena said. "And, the farms lie less than four hours from one another by road!"

The relative geographic closeness of the two farms, as well as both growers' enthusiasm for learning more from one another, got Bullock thinking: "It occurred to me that other growers and co-ops would also benefit from Roberto's knowledge of soil amendments and Aida's experience with quality experimentation. So what if we got a group of Central American producers whom we know to be capable of creating great-quality coffee into a room to talk about the issues that we hear the most questions about, namely, organic agriculture practices and quality development?"

Kim Elena and Tim, along with Counter Intelligence manager Lydia Iannetti, developed a two-day curriculum geared toward providing a group of Counter Culture's Central American producing partners – from growers to co-op leaders – a chance to learn from one another in person, rather than having to hear anecdotes or conduct isolated research on their own.

"We buyers, who visit farms regularly, see certain farmers excel at different areas of coffee growing and processing, and we do our best to cross-pollinate and share best practices between them," Kim Elena said. "[Our] lack of personal experience on … topics where we find ourselves giving advice definitely limits the extent to which we can address concerns; other growers with years of successes and failures can much more effectively help their peers find answers to these questions."

Kim Elena & Co. decided to focus this inaugural program on two prominent issues facing small farmers and co-ops: organic soil fertility and the risk-reward balance of conducing quality-based experiments. Kim Elena explains, "We are unusual among quality-focused coffee companies for our commitment to organic certification, and one of the most common issues that certified organic farms face, especially small farms, is the availability of certified farm inputs that will help them to maintain consistent yields and fertile soil.

Our second topic – quality experiments – complements our dedication to sustainability with our pursuit of new, different, interesting flavors in coffee. We want growers to experiment with varieties, processes and lot separation and offer price incentives to encourage that experimentation, but many growers find it intimidating because it's a risk, and they have only heard tell of these experiments, never seen them or met growers that have succeeded at producing exceptional results."

Around 20 growers and co-op representatives from Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala took part in the first incarnation of this program, which has an open-ended future. "I feel confident that in addition to encouraging practices that increase productivity and improve quality, this event demonstrates Counter Culture’s commitment to our partners and will in turn strengthen their commitment to us as a buyer," said Kim Elena. "It's not the only event to bring producers together to share experiences – from Let's Talk Coffee to Ramacafe to EAFCA, there are plenty of grower-focused conferences – but it is unique for its focus on only two topics, intimate class size, and single-language presentation."

Transparency is one of our core values, and not only to do we try to embody it; we seek it out in our partners throughout the coffee trade. We published our first Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification (CCDTC) Transparency Report in 2009 and today we are excited to release our 2010 report, which aims to give a succinct, transparent summary of our financial and personal relationships with the producer partners whose coffees received CCDTC in 2010.

We hope you read the report, but, in short, 2010 was a dynamic year for our producer partners and us. Our Coffee Department spent more time on the road than ever to support our mission to improve coffee quality in the cup, quality of life for producers, and quality of relationships with growers. We were reminded of the incredible importance of good communication and solid relationships as we watched coffee prices skyrocket. Thankfully, we have long been committed to open, constant, and transparent communication, and our relationships at origin have never been stronger, helping make 2010 a great year for us and setting the stage for an even better 2011.

I recently got back from a week in Peru and Ecuador, where I had my fill of winding Andean roads and guinea pig lunches while working on relationships old and new: in Peru, with the Cenfrocafe co-operative and the growers of Valle del Santuario, and in Ecuador exploring a potential new partnership. I would guess that 90 percent of you guys are now wondering what's up in Ecuador, since that's a coffee-producing country we've not visited before, but that story will have to wait, because first and more important is the relationship we began four years ago in San Ignacio, Peru, with the five communities of Valle del Santuario.

We arrived at the warehouse in San Ignacio at sunset after a full day in the community of Alto Ihuamaca, and I was surprised to see Renán Neira and two other men comfortably settled on milk crates full of beer bottles playing cards.

"Where were you today?" I asked Renán, who is one of Alto Ihuamaca's representatives in the co-op and usually a fixture at meetings, "I saw your motorbike pass by this morning and I talked to your wife at the meeting, but you never showed up."

"Well," he explained, "With the harvest, you know, I had other responsibilities to attend to today."

"I see," I responded, looking at the card game and raising an eyebrow.

It was neither the first nor the last time during my days in Peru that a member of the co-op's leadership made such a reference – I heard that "things are complicated" for the growers and "they want to talk to you" – to avoid stating outright that growers want a higher price for their coffee this year.

"What do you mean, difficult? You mean because the growers want a higher price?" I asked Renán.

"Yes," he said, looking relieved that I had understood his implied meaning.

"They did ask for more money, but that didn't make the meeting difficult," I commented, "it's what made the meeting good – I mean, that's why I'm here, right? That's why we have meetings."

"True. So it was good?"

"Absolutely. I only wish that everyone could have been there."

"Next time, Elena, next time," he laughed, clasping my hand in an interminable handshake, "and how soon will you be back?"

While I always strive to be optimistic, I wasn't exaggerating or sugar-coating the truth when I told Renán that our meeting was good. In fact, it was probably the best grower meeting I have ever attended, for reasons that I could never have predicted when I stood up in front of this group for the first time and collected votes for a coffee name four years ago. I admit that endless co-op meetings and price negotiations don't make for good stories, the way we usually tell them. Where's the new-relationship magic? Where's the adventure? That said, I always want my trip reports to give a behind-the-scenes look at life on the ground in the communities where we work and right now, growers are having a lot of meetings to talk about price: with their neighbors, with their co-ops and on my visit, with their buyer.

This idyllic little valley may seem remote to me after a two-day journey, but the Peruvian coffee market figured out that this area produced good coffee long before Cenfrocafe's coffee started winning awards. Competition from the local market (multi-national companies with representatives in and around San Ignacio) has only gotten tougher since we started working with these five communities and even since my last visit nine months ago, the commodity futures price for coffee has risen almost 50 percent! So what does such an increase mean to the growers and to our partnership? That's exactly what I aimed to find out.

"Last year's price wasn't as good as the price the year before," said Segundo Llacsahuanga, and other growers nodded their heads in agreement.

"It feels like we are working harder to produce better coffee than anyone else but the price isn't different," explained Soledad Cruz, the group's secretary.

It can be maddening to hear complaints like this because blame for the current situation should rest on the volatile, unreliable international market that for years we – growers and buyers – agreed had no bearing on the real costs of coffee production and great quality. Unfortunately, blaming the market gets you nowhere in negotiation – it's like blaming the weather or something.

Conversations about money are challenging whenever emotion is involved and, in a long-term relationship, emotion plays a role pretty much all of the time. But the point of a relationship isn't to make things easy, it's to make things better. Thankfully, most of the growers took advantage of the opportunity provided by my visit to share their experiences. We spent almost four hours brainstorming around the ways we could structure a contract – including a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of different pricing structures to Counter Culture, the growers and the co-op that supports us – and somewhere in the middle of it I realized that this meeting, boring by many standards, was one of the most meaningful, riveting, powerful experiences I have had in my coffee career so far because I could see the progress we have made in the years of this relationship reflected in the way that growers talk and puzzle, thoughtfully and deliberately, through the implications of different pricing strategies. And while the answer isn't easy, the discussion is.

"So what is the solution this year? Can we decide?" At the end of four hours, a chorus of growers pushed for resolution.

"I know that part of me wants to make a decision today because it would feel good to resolve things before I leave," I said, "but it's only May and we have time, so we should use it. I can talk to my team at Counter Culture about what makes sense for us and you can talk to your families and the growers that are not here about what you want to do, and then we can both talk to the co-op because they are really good at understanding both their members and their buyers."

"We understand," said Soledad, "And we agree. The most important thing is to keep selling coffee to you." And as we left the meeting and moved on to farm visits and lunch (yup, guinea pig), I could hear and feel the buzz between growers about the opportunities this year presents and I felt just as excited as I did on my first visit … just a different kind of excited!

Although they provide state-of-the-art settings for Counter Intelligence – our cutting-edge coffee education program – our training centers are much more than classrooms. Staffed by teams of passionate coffee experts and equipped with the latest and best brewing, grinding, and handcrafted coffee equipment, our training centers are regional focal points of hands-on learning and shared community spaces where all levels of coffee and food experience are welcome. In addition to our regular schedule of Counter Intelligence courses, Professional Series programs, and public coffee cuppings, our training centers from time to time host tasting and pairing events, brewing and latte art competitions, and focused education events centered around a single technique, tradition, or piece of equipment.

In this spirit of advanced, focused learning, we recently held a series of Lever Espresso Machine Workshops – led by 2009 World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies – at our training centers in Washington, DC; New York; and Chicago. Co-sponsored by Nuova Simonelli, the event gave the lever veteran Gwilym an opportunity to shed light on the lever espresso machine experience from the expert barista's point of view, delving into pressure manipulation, temperature profiling, and the pros and cons of the most manual of modern espresso machines.

All three cities had great turnouts, but the Chicago event (in our newest training center) attracted the most people from both inside and outside the professional coffee community. Our team of Rich, Deanna, and Josh made our entire lineup of espressos available and assisted Gwilym and friends from Nuova Simonelli in leading attendees through the interactive workshop, which was the but the first of many special education events that Chicago coffee lovers can expect from our new training center in the West Loop. Special thanks to Matthew Gasaway for photos of the event; check out the flickr set here.

Best,
Mark

NOTE: Our delivery carriers will not pick up or deliver on Monday, May 30, in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. Orders received after midnight Thursday, May 26, will be roasted, packaged, and shipped on Tuesday, May 31. Orders in transit may also experience some delay.

The world of coffee has changed. Over the past several months the cost of the coffee we purchase has increased by more than 60 percent. There are many factors contributing to the increased cost, including supply challenges and increased demand. We feel as though coffee prices will remain at this level or higher for quite some time.

In response to substantially higher coffee costs, we are raising the prices of our 12 oz blends, effective today. Thank you for understanding that this price increase means that we can continue to maintain the superior standard of our products and services.

Earlier this year, our Director of Coffee and co-owner, Peter Giuliano, and our Graphic Designer, Katy Meehan, collaborated on a comic titled "So What's the Deal with the Coffee Market?" to illustrate these changes and the opportunity it presents. If you would like more information about the current state of the coffee market or have other questions, please feel free to write to us or give us a call at 888-238-5282.

Since the beginning, Counter Culture has pursued coffee perfection by developing partnerships that ensure prosperity for all people, improving the natural environment, and operating efficiently to minimize our environmental impact – and we continue to make progress in all of these areas. Our Sustainability & Producer Relations Manager Kim Elena Bullock filed an update this week on how we're measuring our progress toward an increasingly sustainable business via proactive, supply-chain auditing.